Battle of Badajoz (1936)

Battle of Badajoz
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Date August 14, 1936 Location Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain Result Nationalist victory
Belligerents
Second Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain
Commanders and leaders
Ildefonso Puigdendolas	Juan Yagüe Carlos Asensio Antonio Castejón
Strength
6,000 4,000 2,000	3,000 regulars 30 guns some bombers
Casualties and losses
750 dead 3,500 wounded, captured or missing	285 dead 44 dead, 141 wounded

The Battle of Badajoz was one of the first major Nationalist victories in the Spanish Civil War. A series of costly assaults won the Nationalists the fortified border city of Badajoz on August 14 1936, cutting off the Spanish Republic from neighbouring Portugal and linking the northern and southern zones of Nationalist control (although actual contact with General Mola's northern troops was not established until September 8).

Strategic situation

In the summer of 1936, German and Italian airlifts, and later the Nationalist fleet, transported almost 10,000 regular troops of the Spanish Army of Africa to southern Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar. The Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco, assembled at Seville and on August 1 General Franco ordered a sweep north to link up with General Mola's distant forces.

Led in the field by Colonel Asensio and Major Castejón, the Nationalist army dashed north in motorized detachments, pausing to bombard and capture walled frontier towns. By August 10, when Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe arrived to take command near Mérida, the Nationalists had secured 300 km of the Portuguese frontier. Mérida fell after a stiff fight on the banks of the Guadiana, leaving the neighbouring city of Badajoz, now the last remaining Republican outpost on the Portuguese border, isolated from the Republic. Yagüe marched against Badajoz with 2,250 Legionnaires, 750 Moroccan regulares, and five field batteries, leaving Major Tella behind to hold Mérida.

Inside the fortress-city Colonel Puigdendolas commanded about 6,000 Republican militia (other sources: between 2,000-4000). When the Nationalist army approached, a body of Guardia Civil attempted to defect to the Nationalists. Puigdendolas crushed the revolt, but it sapped him of men and morale.

The battle

The Nationalists launched their attack on the morning of August 14 after shelling the town for most of the day. A unit of the Spanish Legion, the 4th Bandera, stormed the Puerta de la Trinidad. The defender's most reliable force, the Carabineros, had been placed there. Determined resistance by Republican machine gunners and riflemen checked the assault, shredding several waves of Nationalist troops.

Ignoring their losses, the Legionnaires pressed on. A charge led by armoured cars won the gate and the Nationalists overtook the defenders, pouring through the breach and killing them in hand to hand combat. But the cost was appalling: the attacking 16th Company had lost 76 out of 90 officers and men(other sources: 20 dead, 22 wounded and 2 missing). All the unit's officers fell in the attack except the captain and one corporal.

On the south side Nationalist units stormed the walls with less difficulty. The Tetuán regulars pushed through the Puerta de Los Carros and the Legionnaires and Moroccans swept the Republicans from the barracks. Once inside the ramparts they drove the Republican militia before them, knifing and bayoneting their way toward the city center. Street fighting raged past nightfall.

Puigdendolas, meanwhile, had slipped out of the city and fled to Portugal.

Aftermath

The fall of Badajoz tore from the Republic the large region of Extremadura north of Huelva, which was later subdued and swallowed by the emerging Nationalist state. After the battle Yagüe turned northeast toward Madrid and reached the Tagus. He engaged Republican forces in pitched battles in the weeks that followed.

The Battle of Badajoz followed patterns that continued for much of the summer: Republican militia seized the medieval fortresses dotting Castile, yet could not halt or even slow the advance of Franco's professional troops. The Spanish regular army would prove able to sweep prepared defences held by superior enemy forces, but often suffered staggering losses of its best troops. By year's end much of the Spanish Legion lay dead, scattered along a trail of walled towns stretching from Seville to the outskirts of Madrid.

Massacre of civilians

Some historians have claimed that the Nationalists sacked Badajoz and killed thousands of prisoners and civilians, culminating in an infamous round of executions in the bull ring. Murder and mass rape flared unchecked for several days, and Yagüe's failure to call a halt to the killings earned him the nickname, "The Butcher of Badajoz." Foreign correspondents, depending on their political sympathies, reported between 1,800 and 4,000 civilian deaths. Post-Franco authors dismiss the Badajoz massacre as an outright fabrication, arguing that there is no practical evidence of any massacre including eye-witness accounts. They affirm that only one bullet shell was found and a foreign correspondent wrote that the bull ring was bombed and destroyed.

This kind of revisionism presents clear connections with other revisionist attempts to minimize or deny other events of slaughter, both during the Spanish Civil War and during World War II, committed by the Nationalists' allies. It must be noted too that Pio Moa is not considered an acknowledged academic researcher, but is an author without proper academic background and credentials. Because of this, it is not appropriate to use Moa's work as a source for dismissal of well acknowledged academic historical works, seeing that the relevance and accuracy of the latter are well recognized and differ completely from Moa's writings..

There are various eye-witnesses accounts and other reports of the massacre of Badajoz, including some from foreing correspondents: Jay Allen(american), Mario Neves(portuguese), Marcel Dany(french) and René Brut(french), also there are photographs of the massacre[1]. Yagüe killed thousands of milicianos and civilians after the take of the city and burned the corpses, because he didn´t want leave enemies (soldiers or civilians) behind his army.Yagüe said: "Of course we shot them -he said to me- What do you expect? Was I supossed to take 4000 reds with me as my colum advance, racing against time? Was I expected to turn them loose in my rear and let them make Badajoz red again?". The Yague´s men plundered the city during some days. The theory of the outright fabrication is false.

References

• ESPINOSA, Francisco. "Contra el olvido. Historia y memoria de la guerra civil." Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. 2006. ISBN-10:84-8432-794-9 ISBN-13:978-84-8432-794-3

• DE MADARIAGA, MºRosa "Los moros que trajo Franco...La intervención de tropas coloniales en la guerra civil." Ediciones Martínez Roca. Barcelona. 2002. ISBN: 84-270-2792-3

• JACKSON, Gabriel. "La república española y la guerra civil". 2005. RBA. Barcelona. ISBN: 84-473-3633-6

• CASANOVA, Julián; ESPINOSA, Francisco; MIR, Conxita; y MORENO GÓMEZ, Francisco. "Morir, matar, sobrevivir. La violencia en la dictadura de Franco.". 2004. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. ISBN: 84-8432-506-7

• VILAR, Pierre. "La guerra civil española." Editorial Crítica. 2004. Barcelona. ISBN: 84-8432-019-7

• SOUTHWORTH, Herbert H. "El mito de la cruzada de Franco". 2008. Random House Mondadori. Madrid. ISBN: 978-84-8346-5745-5

• ESPINOSA, Francisco. "La columna de la muerte. El avance del ejercito franquista de Sevilla a Badajoz." 2003. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. ISBN: 84-8432-431-1

• JULÍA, Santos; CASANOVA, Julián; SOLÉ I SABATÉ, Josep Maria; VILLARROYA, Joan; MORENO, Francisco. "Victimas de la guerra civil." Ediciones Temas de Hoy. Madrid. 1999. ISBN: 84-7880-983-X

• Hugh Thomas (2001). The Spanish Civil War. Modern Library. ISBN 0-375-75515-2.

• Julián Chaves Palacios (1997). La Guerra Civil en Extremadura: Operaciones Militares. Junta de Extremadura. ISBN 84-7671-413-0.

External links

• Spartacus Schoolnet - Battle of Badajoz
• La Marcha: The Drive on Madrid